gallus

In Glasgow this is a general term of approval for anything considered excellent: 'Gallus waistcoat, wee man!'. When applied to people it's more about attitude and includes elements of toughness, cheek, self-assurance and boldness: 'He jist stoats right inty the place as gallus as anything', 'Ye'd never get me gaun oot wi wan a these wee guys that think they're gallus'.
The origin of the word is gallows and the inference was that a person so described was liable to be (or should be) hanged. This is an example of a word's meaning ending up as the opposite of what it originally signified, like the American slang use of bad to mean good.

© Michael Munro